TOA is a relatively new name in the British recording market but you can be sure we'll be hearing a lot more from them in the near future.

This was my first hands-on encounter with a TOA product and I get the impression that they take the needs of the user very seriously. Likewise their range of microphones contains one or two rather esoteric models and we'll be telling you all about those in the near future.

The monitor in question is designed to provide main monitoring for small studios or audio/visual facilities and though it does not have the extended bass response of a full blown pro-studio monitor, it's suitable for secondary monitoring in a large working studio. In terms of its construction, there are a couple of surprises, but on the surface everything looks fairly standard.

Construction

The 280-ME is a 3-way monitor but instead of it having the usual bass, mid and tweeter arrangement, it does in fact use a 20cm polypropylene coned woofer supplemented by two tweeters. The first is a 3cm soft dome device whilst the other fills the role of a super tweeter and this measures only 2cm in diameter. Both have built-in diffusers to assist in producing an even dispersion of high frequencies. A passive crossover feeds all three drivers and the crossover points are at 1.5kHz and 14kHz.

This is quite a small monitor speaker measuring only 235mm x 400mmx 235mm and it is completely sealed and finished in a hi-tech smooth satin grey finish which makes the whole thing look as though it's made from plastic, though it is in fact particle board. The obligatory clip-on speaker grille is provided and this carries the equally obligatory logo.

Connection to the speaker is made via a conventional spring terminal system and the front panel sports a user adjustable attenuator to adjust the high frequency response. This is accomplished by reducing the output of the larger tweeter but the super-tweeter is unaffected. In its fully clockwise position, the attenuator provides the flattest response.

"The HF attenuator means that you don't have to resort to all that unreliable tissue paper over the tweeter nonsense that NS10 users seem to go in for..."

Indicative of the thought put into the design of these units is the fact that they are supplied as mirror image pairs for optimum imaging performance and the manufacturers recommend that they should be sited such that the super-tweeters are innermost.

Studio Check

These monitors were plumbed into my studio system alongside a pair of Tannoy Little Reds and I was immediately impressed by their tonal smoothness. All the highs were there and mid-range detail was laid bare to scrutiny but there was no trace of harshness as encountered with some budget monitors, particularly those having surreptitious peaks in their response curves. True the bass end didn't compare with that of the main monitors but it did pack more punch than I'd expected and in no way sounded thin. Like the Tannoys, these are not over-flattering to the programme material and so get my approval for that. You could mix on these speakers and know that your tapes would sound satisfactory on a variety of other speakers.

Imaging too was better than I have come to expect from this type of speaker, partly I suspect due to the mirror-image design and partially due to the close proximity of the drive units.

"Considering their small physical size, the subjective bass output from these speakers was more than the paper specification might lead you to believe..."

Characteristics

The speaker impedance is quoted as being 8Ω and the efficiency is 88dB for 1W at 1m. Power rating is set at 30W of pink noise which equates to around 90W of typical music signal and I certainly found no problems driving these monitors fairly hard from a pair of 75W amplifiers. As previously mentioned, the bass response of these monitors is not particularly strong due to the small physical size of the units and this is confirmed by the manufacturers curves which show a steady roll-off below 100Hz. These curves also show the rest of the response to be reasonably flat and very smooth right up to 15kHz or so where there is a slight hump of 3 or 4dB.

Conclusions

When I first took these speakers out of the box, I thought that they were going to be just another tarted up pair of hi-fi speakers but the reality was somewhat different. They're a very useful little pair of monitors which could form the basis of a main monitoring system for home, A/V or broadcast use and would not be out of place perched on the ends of a mixing console in a large pro-studio.

The HF attenuator means that you don't have to resort to all that unreliable tissue paper over the tweeter nonsense that NS10 users seem to go in for and the acoustic power available is more than adequate despite the modest power handling specifications, and the tonal quality I found most reassuring.

I like these speakers, they're serious monitors at a sensible price and I will be keeping a close eye on TOA's other products as they come along.

The TOA 280-MEs cost £287.50 per pair inclusive of VAT.

Further details from TOA Electronics Ltd, (Contact Details).